What is the procedure for mailing Office actions to third party requesters in inter partes reexamination?

This page is an FAQ based on guidance from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only: it is not legal advice.

In inter partes reexamination proceedings, the USPTO has a specific procedure for mailing Office actions to third party requesters. The MPEP outlines:

All actions in an inter partes reexamination proceeding will have a copy mailed to the third party requester. A transmittal form PTOL-2070 must be used in providing the third party requester with a copy of each Office action.

If there are multiple third party requesters, the Office may use the mailing address of the first named requester as the correspondence address, unless a registered patent practitioner’s address has been designated. A separate transmittal form is provided for each requester, which helps in tracking the number of copies needed and allows for the use of window envelopes in mailing.